Driver not guilty of vehicular homicide in 2009 Mass Pike accident

Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Published Wednesday January 9, 2013 at 6:00 am

Updated Wednesday January 9, 2013 at 9:58 am

A Chelsea man was found not guilty in Central District Court Tuesday of vehicular homicide by negligent driving in connection with a 2009 accident on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Grafton that claimed the life of a Whitinsville mechanic who was standing in the breakdown lane after repairing a disabled tractor-trailer.

The lawyer for Kenneth Lava, 64, maintained throughout the trial, which began Monday, that the accident happened because 36-year-old Dennis Scott, a giant of a man at 6 feet and over 300 pounds, was partially in the roadway. It took the jury less than four hours to return with the not guilty verdict.

After jurors left the courtroom to begin deliberations, Judge Paul F. Loconto found Mr. Lava responsible for a civil infraction of a marked lanes violation. He was fined $100.

“We're grateful the jury found the way they found, but it was a tough situation for everybody,” defense lawyer Carmine P. Lepore of Revere said as he and Mr. Lava and his family left the courtroom.

Mr. Scott's widow, Tanya Scott of Putnam, Conn., ran out of the courtroom and fell onto the floor screaming and crying. Mrs. Scott reached a settlement in a wrongful death suit last year against Mr. Lava and his employer, Kayem Foods, which leased the 26,000-pound U-Haul van he was driving. She and other family members declined to comment, but a family friend spoke with a reporter.

“It's devastating. We've waited three years and put our whole life on hold,” said a tearful Leah Guzman of Worcester. “I know the man didn't do it on purpose. But I think he was negligent and there should be some consequences. All he gets is a $100 civil fine. Now the family has to heal all over again.”

According to police, Mr. Lava had finished deliveries in Woburn and was headed to Worcester when the accident happened just before 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2009. A partially eaten sandwich that he bought in Woburn was found on the console of his truck.

During testimony from the seven prosecution witnesses, it was established that Mr. Lava was not speeding, and he admitted that he saw the tractor-trailer as he approached. Weather was not a factor, but the traffic was heavy.

Leo Arseneau, a construction worker at the time who is now a police officer, was traveling behind Mr. Lava. He testified that he thought the driver was falling asleep when he saw the commercial truck sway and then drift over into the breakdown lane and strike the tractor-trailer. But Trooper Brian Paquette, the lead investigator, later testified that he did not recall the motorist telling him that at the scene.

He said Mr. Lava, who was traveling in the right lane, told him he thought he had enough room to get past the tractor-trailer and Mr. Scott's service truck, which was parked in front of the tractor-trailer.

State police Sgt. John Jakubowski, an accident reconstructionist, testified that he determined by the damage on the vehicles and the onset of blood that the point of impact was in the breakdown lane.

Mr. Lepore, the defense lawyer, questioned whether he had come to that conclusion because that is what he was told by the driver of the disabled tractor- trailer.

Tony Benoit, 36, of Charlton, the final witness called yesterday, said that after Mr. Scott repaired his 18-wheeler, he was sitting in the cab with the door cracked open giving Mr. Scott the odometer reading so he could finish his report. He said he did not see the large white van actually hit Mr. Scott because after it hit the rear corner of his tractor-trailer and continued up its side before reaching the door that he was holding onto, he quickly pulled his head out of the way.

“I heard the impact. Something hit my trailer, just behind where we were,” he told the court. “The other truck pushed passed us taking the door and Dennis with it.” Mr. Benoit said he was looking down at Mr. Scott's face while talking to him and he could see the left side of his body. The exhaust stack behind the truck's fuel tank prevented him from seeing the right side of Mr. Scott's body, he said.

Most of Mr. Scott's body was shielded by the truck, but a small portion wasn't and was likely on the roadway, Mr. Lepore maintained.